Argentine rugby players on trial for killing teenager

Eight Argentine rugby players from a small provincial club in Zarate went on trial on Monday for allegedly beating a teenager to death three years ago.

The brutal murder took place outside a nightclub when they attacked an 18-year-old Fernando Baez from behind and beat him to death on the ground, according to AFP.

Argentine authorities said images of the attack were caught on surveillance cameras and by the phone of one of the defendants.

The eight defendants, aged between 21 and 23, risk life in prison if convicted.

They have been in pre-trial detention since the attack.

According to the report, an argument ensued between two groups of people inside a nightclub in the popular seaside resort of Villa Gesell on January 18, 2020.

And the eight defendants allegedly attacked Baez, after they had been ejected by door staff.

“(They) continued to strike him even when he was practically unconscious, causing injuries that resulted in death,” said prosecutor Juan Manuel Davilia at the court in Dolores, some 200km south of Buenos Aires.

“They took the decision to kill and they killed,” said Baez family’s lawyer Fernando Burlando.

Some 150 witnesses have been called to trial, which is expected to last three weeks.

The assailants were alleged by witnesses to have shouted racist insults at the victim as they struck him.